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STATISTICAL IX. Intendancy of Vera Cruz. ANALYSIS. S }

*

dike ought to have been placed at Medellin, and that through ignorance it was constructed not only in a point of too great elevation, but also 7500 metres farther from the port than the necessary fall for conveying the water demanded. In the present state of things, the construction of the aqueduct from the Rio Xamapa to Vera Cruz is estimated at five or six millions of francs †. In a country abounding with immense metallic wealth it is not the greatness of the sum which frightens the government. The project is put off because it has been lately calculated that ten public cisterns, placed without the precincts of the city, would not altogether cost more than 700,000 francs ‡, and would be sufficient for a population of 16,000 souls, if each cistern of water contained a volume of water of 670 cubic metres §. "Why?" it is said in the report to the viceroy, "why go so far to seek what nature affords at hand? Why not profit by the regular and abundant rains which, according to the accurate experiments of Colonel Costanzo, furnish three times more water than what falls in France and Germany?" The habitual population of Vera Cruz, without including the militia and seafaring people, is 16,000.

* 24,605 feet. Trans. † 208,350l. or 250,020l. Trans. 29,1697, sterling. Trans. § 23,661 cubic feet. Trans.

STATISTICAL} IX. Intendancy of Vera Cruz.

Xalapa (Xalapan), a town at the foot of the basaltic mountain of Macultepec, in a very romantic situation. The convent of St. Francis, like all those founded by Cortez, resembles a fortress at a distance; for in the early periods of the conquest, convents and churches were constructed in such a manner as to serve for a defence in case of an insurrection of the natives. From this convent of St. Francis at Xalapa we enjoy a magnificent view of the colossal summits of the Coffre and the Pic d'Orizaba, of the declivity of the cordillera (towards l'Encero, Otateo, and Apazapa), of the river of l'Antigua, and even of the ocean. The thick forests of styrax, piper, melastomata, and ferns resembling trees, especially those which are on the road from Pacha and San Andres, the banks of the small lake de los Berrios, and the heights leading to the village of Huastepec, offer the most delightful promenades. The sky of Xalapa, beautiful and serene in summer, from the month of December to the month of February wears most melancholy aspect. Whenever the north wind blows at Vera Cruz the inhabitants of Xalapa are enveloped in a thick fog. The thermometer then descends to 12° or 16°*, and during this period (estacion de

* 63° and 60° of Fahrenheit.

STATISTICAL
ANALYSIS.

IX. Intendancy of Vera Cruz.

los Nortes) the sun and stars are frequently invisi ble for two or three weeks together. The richest merchants of Vera Cruz have country houses at Xalapa, in which they enjoy a cool and agreeable retreat while the coast is almost uninhabitable from the mosquitos, the great heats, and the yellow fever. In this small town an establishment is to be found, the existence of which confirms what I have already advanced on the progress of intellectual cultivation in Mexico. This is an excellent school for drawing, founded within these few years, in which the children of poor artizans are instructed at the expense of people in better circumstances. The elevation of Xa lapa above the level of the ocean is 1320 metres*. Its population is estimated at 13,000.

Perote (the ancient Pinahuizapan). The small fortress of San Carlos de Perote is situated to the north of the town of Perote. It is rather an armed station than a fortress. The surround

ing plains are very barren, and covered with pumice-stone. There are no trees, with the exception of a few solitary trunks of cypress and molina. Height of Perote 2353 metres †.

Cordoba, a town on the eastern declivity of the Pic d'Orizaba, in a climate a good deal warmer

* 4264 feet. Trans.

t7719 feet. Trans.

STATISTICAL IX. Intendancy of Vera Cruz.

ANALYSIS.

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than that of Xalapa. The environs of Cordoba and Orizaba produce all the tobacco consumed in New Spain.

Orizaba, to the east of Cordoba, and a little to the north of the Rio Blanco, which discharges itself into the Laguna d'Alvarado. It has been long disputed if the new road from Mexico to Vera Cruz should go by Xalapa or Orizaba. Both these towns having a great interest in the direction of this road, have employed all the means of rivalry to gain over the constituted authorities to their respective sides. The result was, that the viceroys alternately embraced the cause of both parties, and during this state of uncertainty no road was constructed. Within these few years, however, a fine causeway was commenced from the fortress of Perote to Xalapa, and from Xalapa to l'Encero.

Tlacotlalpan, the principal place of the old province of Tabasco. Farther north are the small towns of Victoria and Villa Hermosa, the first of which is one of the oldest of New Spain.

The intendancy of Vera Cruz has no metallic mines of any importance. The mines of Zomelahuacan, near Jalacingo, are almost abandoned.

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THIS intendancy comprehends the whole of the north-east part of the kingdom of New Spain. As it borders either on desert countries, or countries inhabited by wandering and independent Indians, we may say that its northern limits are hardly determined. The mountainous tract called the Bolson de Mapimi includes more than 3000 square leagues, from which the Apachis sally out to attack the colonists of Cohahuila and New Biscay. Indented into these two provinces, and bounded on the north by the great Rio del Norte, the Bolson de Mapimi is sometimes considered as a country not conquered by the Spaniards, and sometimes as composing a part of the intendancy of Durango. I have traced the limits of Cohahuila and Texas, near the mouth of the Rio Puerco, and towards the sources of the Rio de San Saba, as I found them indicated in the special maps preserved in the archives of the viceroyalty, and drawn up by engineers in the Spanish service. But how is it possible to determine territorial limits in immense savannas, where the farms are from 15 to 20 leagues distant from one

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